Lee May Ling
Partner
May Ling has an established background in general and commercial litigation. She has acted for a range of clients, comprising high net worth individuals, financial institutions, as well as public-listed and multinational corporations, and over a broad spectrum of cases, including employment disputes, misconduct and fraud cases, company and shareholder disputes, family and estate disputes and corporate-governance related matters.
Her practice focuses on white collar crime & investigations. She has developed particular expertise in advising multinational conglomerates as well as small and medium-sized enterprises in this sphere. This includes assisting them with navigating anti-fraud, sanctions, corruption and money-laundering laws, conducting internal investigations into employee misconduct, fraud and harassment, as well as advising companies on dealing with authorities on regulatory issues, police investigations, information enquiries and dawn raids.
May Ling is presently Chairman on the Board of the SAS-SBF (Security Association Singapore - Singapore Business Federation) Foundation of Compassion Fund. She is also an Accredited Mediator with the Singapore Mediation Centre. Further, she was part of the inaugural batch of fellows under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, where she was seconded to the Law Society Pro Bono Services office in 2015, and practiced criminal law full-time whilst developing contacts with the criminal law bench and bar.
May Ling is a contributor to The Asset Tracing and Recovery Review, The International Comparative Legal Guides to Anti-Money Laundering Laws and Regulations, The International Comparative Legal Guides to Sanctions, Practical Law Global (Thomson Reuters) Anti-Corruption and Global Legal Insights to: Bribery & Corruption.
May Ling is recommended by Who’s Who Legal (Southeast Asia – Investigations 2024) and is also recognized as a ‘Next Generation Partner’ in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2022 (White-Collar Crime) where she is described as “consistently knowledgeable and responsive … able to advise on a wide range of issues dealing with criminal investigations, regulatory reporting obligations, and trainings on dealing with unannounced government visits”.
May Ling graduated with First Class Honours from King’s College London and also has an LL.M. in Commercial Law.
Work Highlights
- Acted for a listed cross-border multi-business conglomerate in one of the longest running civil proceedings in the Supreme Court involving claims of breach of statutory and directors’ duties, conspiracy and fraud.
- Acted for one of the accused in the high-profile criminal trial in Singapore against several members of City Harvest Church and thereafter in the appeal where the accused’s sentence was successfully reduced. This reduced sentence was also successfully defended at the stage of criminal motion.
- Acted for financial institutions in relation to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.
- Acted for financial institutions in relation to the Fujian gang money laundering investigations.